Dr Claude Newbury and Abortion in SA

by Letters Editor · January 4, 2017

Damian McLeish, Johannesburg – The article “How abortion became legal in SA” (November 2) mentioned attempts by the Church and other South African entities in 1996 to prevent the legalisation here of abortion by the proposed Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act.

However, the anti-abortion activity of Dr Claude Newbury, president of Pro-Life, at this critical time greatly exceeded that described in the said article.

In fact, Dr Newbury, at his own expense, briefed expert counsel to lodge with the Constitutional Court an objection to the court’s certification of the new South African Constitution (an essential requirement for it to become law) on the grounds that it would permit the legalisation of abortion on demand.

It is a most sobering thought that, in our entire nation, only two anti-abortion legal actions were ever actually submitted to our courts, the one being the said Pro-Life objection, and the other an unsuccessful challenge of the proposed abortion Act by the Christian Lawyers’ Association of SA in the then-Transvaal Supreme Court.